


Triple Play

by Trixxster103



Series: Pearlmethyst Week 2017 [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Insecurities, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Wrestling, and whether it's fake or not, everyone has fun, jokes about wrestling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 16:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11339133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trixxster103/pseuds/Trixxster103
Summary: Steven invites Pearl and Amethyst to go wrestling with him. Everyone has a good time. Basically just fluff.Day 5: Bonding with Steven for #fuckyeahpearlmethyst prompt week on Tumblr.





	Triple Play

Pearl hummed each time Amethyst ran her fingers through her hair, slow and soft, until her hand simply lingered there, touching her for the simple pleasure of it. From her vantage point – lying with her head on Amethyst’s soft thigh, arms holding a massive high level astronomy textbook open above her – Pearl could just barely see the contented look on Amethyst’s face. She held her comic book open with one hand, upside down (‘it’s more fun to read that way, Pearl!’ she had explained once), the pages smudged, dog eared and frayed. But even if those things had mattered to Amethyst, she scarcely would’ve notice them. She was too busy looking at Pearl with a dopey grin.

Pearl flushed deeply when she realized, forcing her eyes back to the page. Amethyst carded her fingers through her hair again, relaxing her easily with her touch. This part of their relationship was new, and Pearl was still shy about it. But Amethyst didn’t push, and Pearl allowed herself to relax more deeply than she had in a long time. They had the beach house all to themselves, and the world outside seemed so quiet and still.

The stillness was quickly shattered by Steven galloping up the stairs, slamming the door open, and screaming, “AMETHYST!”

Pearl shot off of Amethyst’s lap, hoping Steven hadn’t noticed in his excitement, and sat up properly, though she kept close enough that their bodies were still touching, forcing herself to be brave. She knew how important it was to Amethyst, and really she didn’t want to hide their relationship, but explicit expressions of love, in front of other people, were not easy for her.

Ultimately it didn’t matter, since Steven threw himself onto their laps, shoving a poster into Amethyst’s face and practically bouncing in place. “I know you said you were done with wrestling, but Mr. Smiley is organizing a charity fundraising event and there’s gonna be free hotdogs and cake and prizes and IT’S GONNA BE AWESOME!!!! He asked me purposely, said that since I know Tiger Millionaire and the Purple Puma maybe I could ask them and then he winked at me! It’s the perfect chance to be the good guys! We could reinvent ourselves and –“

Amethyst shape-shifted her hand to cover Steven’s whole face, and laughed as he tried to bat it away. “Chill Ste-man. I guess we get the team back together. It’ll be fun or whatever, y’know.”

“And Pearl can fight too!” Steven added excitedly, turning to grab Pearl and show her the poster.

“I don’t know, Steven, I should probably just watch, wrestling is Amethyst’s and your thing,” Pearl deflected breezily.

“Please, Pearl!” Steven pouted, “We could sign up for triples. I know we’d have fun. The last time the three of us did something together where we weren’t going to die was the concert! And that was months ago!”

Amethyst chimed in with her own pout when Pearl seemed to still be waffling. “Please, P? I want you to come.”

“Well, I suppose-” Pearl had barely finished agreeing before Steven jumped off the couch, poster flying out of his hand and landing on Pearl’s head. She pulled it off to see Amethyst sniggering, and closed her book with as much dignity as she had left.

Steven returned rosy cheeked and smiling, breathing heavy from running laps around the room to collect a pile of supplies that threatened to spill from his arms. There was glitter, feathers, paper, crayons, spools of fabric, thread, markers and pencil crayons (the particularly nice ones that Pearl really liked), a pair of scissors and, inexplicably, a spoon.

“What’s all this for?” Pearl asked with a laugh, steadying the swaying pile as Steven tried to spread it out on the living room table.

“You need a theme! A character to be with a story to tell.”

“Why would I need to do that?” Pearl asked, kneeling in front of the table and taking some paper and pencil crayons for herself. Amethyst joined her, grabbing two different bottles of glitter to compare them.

Steven put down everything he’d been holding, then looked to the left, then the right, making an exaggerated sweep of the room, until finally scootching over to whisper into Pearl’s ear “Wrestling is just theatre with punching. It’s all fake. Don’t tell Amethyst, though, it’ll break her heart.”

They both looked sidelong to Amethyst who was tasting the various glitters, and some of the glue Steven had brought, and nodded to each other. Steven winked, and Pearl winked back. With a final, serious nod, Steven went back to his spot on the floor, and began to draw in earnest.

“We’ll have to come up with an awesome name, too,” Steven gushed, picture taking shape quickly beneath his hands. Pearl tried to look over his shoulder, but he leaned forward, unwillingly to let her ruin the surprise for herself.

“The Flying Falcon,” Amethyst suggested breezily through a mouthful of glue.

Steven and Pearl both turned to stare at her, pencils still. When Amethyst just shrugged and added the spoon to her snack, Pearl turned back to her paper. Steven turned back to his, considered it, and then crumpled it up excitedly, grabbing a fresh piece and new crayons to start again.

“I suppose you two do have an animal theme going already,” Pearl mused, after some time, not entirely sure what she was supposed to be drawing, instead making pleasing symmetrical patterns with different colored pencil crayons.

“Done!” Steven shouted suddenly, holding the paper up in front of him with both hands. Amethyst grabbed it from him, and Pearl shuffled over on her knees, resting her chin on Amethyst’s head to examine it herself.

It was easy to pick out the figures that were in the picture. Tiger Millionaire and the Purple Puma were beating up on a bad guy, Tiger with his briefcase and the Puma with a chair from… somewhere Pearl supposed. She looked for herself, and found a skinny figure flying through the air, arms out to attack the bad guy, with a colorful bird mask, and long cape. Pearl felt her face grow warm, unsure how she felt.

“….And that’s you, Pearl,” Steven finished, and Pearl realized she had accidentally tuned out most of what he was saying.

“It’s lovely, Steven,” Pearl started gently, “But isn’t it a little inaccurate? Falcons have nowhere near that many colors and their feathers…”

“It doesn’t have to be accurate,” Steven told her. “It just has to be fun!”

“And it’s more about making the audience feel something. It’s about the implication! Falcons are awesome birds!” Amethyst spoke lightly, taking Pearl’s hands and wrapping them around her neck. “And having lots of colors is fun to look at!”

“Alright,” Pearl acquiesced after a long minute of deliberation.

“Yes!” Steven and Amethyst shouted in unison.

“I’ll get started on your mask Pearl,” Steven said. “But… I might need help with the sewing.”

Pearl assured him with a smile that it wasn’t a problem, feeling a strange urge to tousle his hair. He didn’t wear out his clothes very often now that he was an adolescent and Pearl suddenly found she missed the calming act of stitching up the worn and frayed edges of his clothes.

Amethyst tried to jump up, forgetting that Pearl was holding onto to her and ended up pulling the taller gem with her into an awkward crouch. “C’mon, Pearl. I have a bunch of capes in my room, let’s go get you one,” Amethyst explained, as the two of them untangled themselves from each other.

Pearl had barely stood up properly and started to think about her answer when Amethyst was hurriedly tugging her to her room. Pearl gasped, but let herself be dragged along, her question about where in the world Amethyst got so many human clothes from dying on her lips.

 

 

“What’s bothering you?” Amethyst asked, standing on tiptoe to pin the cape she had picked out to Pearl’s tunic.

“Nothing!” Pearl deflected, too quick and defensive for her own good. “Why would you think something’s bothering me?”

“Because I know you. Talk to me, Pearly.”

Amethyst rested her hands on Pearl’s shoulders when she finished with the cape, and Pearl’s heart thudded at the proximity. She’d leaned down a bit to make it easier on Amethyst, but that meant she wasn’t as composed, wasn’t perfectly balanced. It was a vulnerable position, but that made it easier to open up.

With a sigh, Pearl bit her bottom lip, eyes downcast. “Amethyst, I’m not… I’m not the kind of fighter for this! My weapon is a spear, I’m good at long range, tactical fighting, not throwing people at chairs!” The words fell from Pearl’s lips like a torrent and she broke from Amethyst’s grasp to pace.

“It’s kind of the opposite though, we throw chairs at people!” Amethyst lobbed back in reply. “And my main weapon’s a whip! If I can go from long range to close up, so can you.”

The indecision on Pearl’s face was clear, she knew she was worried for nothing, but she couldn’t help it either, all the possible what-ifs and potentials racing through her mind in an uncountable list. Amethyst nodded to Pearl, stretching her arms back behind her head, ready for the verbal tennis match they seemed intent on having.

“Face it, Amethyst, I’m the worst shape-shifter of the three of us! I can only really do clothes.”

“Steven does just fine without it.”

“I might hurt someone!”

“You’ve never hurt Connie.”

“I’m not cool enough, okay?” Pearl finally shouted, fists clenched, wincing at the way she sounded, but that was the root of the problem.

Amethyst chuckled, walking behind Pearl to reach up and massage away the tension between her slim shoulders. “I’ll tell you a secret,” Amethyst whispered hotly in Pearl’s ear, increasing the pressure on her back, Pearl slowly losing the rigidity in her body as she relaxed. “Don’t tell Steven this, cause he’ll be heartbroken, but wrestling’s mostly fake anyways. I just like letting loose, but all those guys have like backstories and ideals and shit; like getting revenge or empowering themselves, or fighting over a girl. And the fans are even worse! They’re nerdier than you, Pearl!”

“Really?” Pearl asked, turning to lift Amethyst in her arms.

“You’re not the only nerd thing I like, you know. I have culture!” Amethyst said.

“I’d hardly call the Fartinator cultured,” Pearl teased back, smiling.

“You do know wrestling! The absolute worst of wrestlers, but I’ll count it.”

“I only know him from Steven, he seemed almost disappointed that the strange little man only lasted thirty seconds in the arena,” Pearl explained.

“Yeah, he was awful!”

The two of them stayed embracing for a while, Pearl humming, twirling them on the spot, and Amethyst nuzzled into Pearl’s neck, enjoying the warmth and closeness.

Amethyst was very nearly asleep, when Pearl’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Thanks for reassuring me, honey. It seems silly now.”

“Nothing’s silly when it involves wrestling.” Amethyst winked, and then wiggled until Pearl put her down, and she reached to grab her hands instead. “I’ll show you how it’s done, and you’ll be the coolest wrestler ever!” 

“You just act all helpless and distract him, and then when he thinks he has you cornered! Wham!” Pearl flinched when Amethyst slapped her two hands together, engrossed in her explanation, “You fly at him with an Elbow Press and then he’s down! It’s easy, distract, then attack!”

Pearl smirked, tapping her chin. “I think I’d like to practice.”

Amethyst was confused until Pearl leaned down to give her a soft and doting kiss. It didn’t last long, but Amethyst was starry eyed anyways when Pearl pulled away. She smiled at her, and Amethyst smiled back. “Pearl, you missed a step. Distract and then attack.”

“Oh, dear. I guess I’ll have to practice it again.” This time the kiss was more heated, Amethyst on her tiptoes, until she got fed up, pulled their lips apart, and leaned Pearl back into a dip with her strong arms to continue the kiss.

“I’m finished your mask –” Steven’s excited shouts died as he stumbled on the two gems and he covered his eyes with a hand, blushing. “Guys, that isn’t a real wrestling move!”

“It’s not?” Amethyst shouted in mock exasperation, when she pulled away from the kiss. “You lied to me, Pearl! I can’t believe you would just lie about wrestling moves like that!”

Pearl laughed into her hand as Amethyst pulled her to standing. “If it distracted you, it works.”

Steven peeked out from his fingers, and then moved his hand when he realized it was safe to do so, wandering closer to the gems with Pearl’s mask in his hands. “That’s great, Pearl, but you can’t just distract people! You have to attack them after too.”

Amethyst tiptoed behind Steven as he went into describing a particular move, pressing one finger to her lips to tell Pearl not to say anything. “You mean like this?” She shrieked, tickling Steven fiercely under the armpits.

The attack was successful immediately, Steven losing his grip on the mask (Pearl managed to catch it thankfully, and place it carefully on the least messy pile) and falling to his knees through an onslaught of giggles. “A-amethyst. T-tick-ling isn’t a wrestling move either!”

“It is if it works!”

Tears streamed down Steven’s face as Amethyst doubled down, and he clutched his stomach, his whole body shaking with his laughter. Eventually he managed to break free for just long enough to stumble to his feet and take off in a run, a shrieking Amethyst following him gleefully. Pearl watched in amusement.

“Pearl, help me!” Steven begged when he circled past, wheezing and laughing and crying.

Instead she strafed around him, and he had to bolt to the side to avoid running into her. With quick fingers she was on him, tickling his stomach for a few fleeting seconds before he broke from her grip again, stumbling to the ground and pushing off his fingers.

“I can’t… believe… you’d... betray me like this!” Steven huffed out through his laughter. He stopped a moment to catch his breath and Amethyst skidded to a halt next to Pearl, equally as breathless. They let him breathe for a minute, then the two gems took off after their child again, the Temple filling with delighted screams.

 

 

It was hard for Steven to be mad that they missed most of the pre-event (he hoped there were still hot dogs) when the reason for missing it was that they had all been too busy having fun – in this case, him and Amethyst playing ‘keep away’ with Pearl’s mask – to notice time slipping past. Much of Pearl’s obsessive punctuality fizzled away when Amethyst was involved, and Steven found that was both a blessing and a curse. In the end, he decided not to be too worried, the event itself had a well-documented schedule and their first match as a group wasn’t until midway through the anyways.

When they arrived, holding hands, (even though wrestlers didn’t hold hands) it was to a deserted ring and an annoyed Mr. Smiley, angrily mopping a non-descript puddle from the ground. He smiled wanly when he saw Steven and the gems.

“Sorry, Steven, event’s cancelled. Everyone got food poisoning from the free hotdogs,” he explained morosely. Steven took a step back from the puddle. Pearl took two.

“Aww.” Steven complained, followed by Amethyst crossing her arms and muttering, “This blows,” under her breath.

Pearl kneeled down to Steven’s eye level, brushing her hand through his slicked back Tiger Millionaire hair. “I’m sorry, Steven. I know how excited you were.”

Steven stopped her with a brilliant smile, perking up quickly. “Aww, it’s okay! I just wanted to spend time with you and Amethyst! That was the fun part!”

“You know,” Pearl started, taking his hand as she got up, Amethyst going for her other side to take her arm, “we still have plenty of time to spend together since we won’t be wrestling today.” Secretly, Pearl was a tiny bit relieved. “We could go get some food. My treat.”

“Fry bits,” Steven whispered reverently, taking off at a run to get there faster. Amethyst chased after him, their shouts of “Gimme the bits!” echoing loudly through the small arena.

Pearl was content to follow them slowly, wistful as they screamed and play fought on their way there. She didn’t see them double back until Amethyst was barrelling into her and laying wet kisses on her neck. “Thanks babe, you’re the best!” Amethyst roared, yanking Pearl down for a heated kiss before running off in the direction of the fry shack again.

“Yeah Pearl, the best!” Steven declared, grabbing her in a strong armed hug from the side, before taking off after Amethyst. Pearl enjoyed the warm feelings for a little longer then followed faster behind the two, both for want of company and because she was slightly worried they might accidentally break something again in their excitement.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just some fluff inspired by a few tumblr fan-arts. Thanks for reading, please comment and review!


End file.
